"Waow" comic published, apparently without Blizzard's permission
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Aug 17th 2008 at 6:00PM
Blogger DeSlisser was in Paris recently when he came upon a strange sight in a store: A comic book called "WaoW" that covered the journey of a newb in the world of "Razemoth" as he looks for a dungeon to level in. It's very definitely suppose to be Azeroth, and even the dungeon he eventually finds is clearly the Deadmines. The comic book, however, does not seem to be an official Blizzard product.
Of course, we've seen pirated Warcraft items before, but this would be the first foray I've heard into the world of pirate comics. The phenomenon is widespread enough in Japan that it has its own convention simply for the selling of these books that, according to many, violate Intellectual Property rights.
So perhaps Blizzard is getting to that point too. Will they crack down on comic books like "WaoW?" Should they? After all, they don't crack down on WoW fanart. But then again, most WoW fanartists don't try to sell their work in bulk either.
[via Tobold]
Filed under: Worldwide Invitational, Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Comics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MikeD Aug 17th 2008 6:15PM
AND THE HAMMER THAT IS BLIZZARD STRUCK DOWN FROM THE HEAVENS UPON THE SMALL PRINTING PRESS WITH SUCH MIGHT IT SHOOK THE WORLD.
Richard Aug 17th 2008 6:08PM
Based on the synopsis in the source article and the frame shown here, this seems like parody.
Marc Aug 17th 2008 6:19PM
Parodies are protected under US laws. Christ, if that weren't the case, MAD magazine would have been out of business ages ago.
einzer Aug 17th 2008 6:31PM
"In its most general sense, a fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and "transformative" purpose such as to comment upon, criticize or parody a copyrighted work. Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner"
"Unlike other forms of fair use, a fairly extensive use of the original work is permitted in a parody in order to "conjure up" the original."
(http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/9-a.html)
Without seeing the whole comic (and being able to understand possibly nuanced French), no one can say definitively how to categorize it.
I find it interesting that this is given as an example of shameless copyright infringment. However the multiple post promotion of Manaprincess.com, which sells multiple items ripped directly (sans Blizz permission)from WoW, is acceptable and embraced?
Michel Aug 17th 2008 6:32PM
Parodies are protected under French laws too.
is it the same with "Stevostin et la croisade qui brûle" (Stevostin and the crusade who burns)
a parody, so no need to be an "official" product. Blizzard knows "stevostin", they even put an interview of the author on the european website.
but it's not an "official" wow product.
Michel Aug 17th 2008 6:34PM
http://www.ruppert-lesite.com/dotclear/index.php/2008/07/15/102-stevostin-et-les-cavernes-lamentables-episode-9
RobertHMayfire Aug 17th 2008 6:59PM
If they change the names to be humorous and the story is a satire on WoW and the Fantasy genre then I would consider it a parody. I would have to see it and babelfish it to get some understanding on it.
Right now a online comic strip is parodying WoW at www.sluggy.com calling it Years of Yarncraft or YoY in the land of Stuffaroth.
Tcgjarhead Aug 18th 2008 12:38AM
Sluggy Freelance!
Bun bun the killer bunny FTW!!!!
Ironside Aug 17th 2008 7:41PM
Hey changing one or two letters of popular cultural references in an effort to parody them, I wonder if blizz ever does that...
Ilnara Aug 17th 2008 9:17PM
^this
Tim Aug 17th 2008 7:50PM
Yeah, I think people have become so cowed and intimidated by bossy corporations, they've lost sight of what is legally permissible.
Those who wish to know their rights might enjoy this "fair use" comic put out by Duke University:
http://www.law.duke.edu/cspd/comics/digital.php
Merlin Aug 17th 2008 8:10PM
See also:
http://www.lfgcomic.com/
Which is very much a for-profit long-form comic series set in a parodic version of Azeroth that gets linked to regularly from this very blog. Also available for purchase in dead-tree collected format from the same site. And don't they have a LFG animated film in the works at the moment too?
French comic book stores generally offer a much more diverse range of material than their American and English cousins, so it makes perfect sense for a comic like this to be on sale over there.
Nex Iuguolo Aug 17th 2008 11:29PM
It's a parody.
Wierd Al, Punk-styled Brittrany Spears covers, etc.
Relax.
Kalabus Aug 17th 2008 8:09PM
this is nothing more than a parody and in the world of advertising this comic book wich is not a mmorpg for the computer could only help wow and not hinder it. Its not any real competition and parody's are usualy created by fans of the work in wich they parody
Merlin Aug 17th 2008 8:10PM
Oh and while I'm thinking about it:
The protection granted to works of parody by the law is a bit of a grey area. If a company actually takes offence at your parody and decides to get lawyers involved, you can quite quickly find yourself up a muddy brown creak in need of hiring a very expensive legal paddle.
Just an example off the top of my head from the world of webcomics: Penny Arcade Vs American Greatings over a Strawberry Shortcake strip that was very clearly a work of parody but that still had to be yanked because the PA guys didn't want to face the legal hassle:
http://scalzi.com/whatever/002368.html
(just a quick summary I found via google).
The point being - if the company you're parodying are dicks about it, you could be in trouble. Blizzard luckily are pretty smart about this, and recognise most works of parody (even for-profit ones) only serve to greater raise the profile of their games.
matt Aug 18th 2008 12:33AM
no, Parody is not a grey area.
Satire is a part of Parody as well.
Many things are fair use, and just because something uses a likeness doesn't mean they can even necessarily construe that it relates to Blizzard. If Blizzard tried to claim ownership someone can easily point out that Dungeons and Dragons and its ideas have been around for years, and technically nothing Blizzard has done is copyrightable in that sense because it's not even an original idea. Not to be mixed up with patents.
If blizzard were to go after them it would be just like when they've taken down other things that add value. Blizzard legal is truly that idiotic.
Merl Aug 18th 2008 5:48AM
Yes, satire is pretty obviously part of parody.
You're kind of missing my point. Large corporations can and do sue others over works of parody when they feel the parody is in someway harmful to them. Even though the individual may have the law on their side,
they often to do not have either the funds or time that a corporation can bring to bare in terms of fighting a legal case and so instead are simply forced to comply with the corporation's wishes.
Again, I very highly doubt you'll see a move like this from Blizzard over a comic book parody. If we do see Blizzard do something like this one day, I'd kinda imagine it would be over something like say the live action WoW pornography that one company have been making. Although even there I suspect Blizzard are of the opinion that people making live action porn out of WoW is just too hilarious a concept to be offended by.
Bromnir Aug 18th 2008 4:17PM
In all fairness, it should be clarified that PA yanked the Strawberry Shortcake comic because while they used the Strawberry Shortcake IP in the comic, they were actually making a statement about (and parodying) American McGee's video games. Since they were not making a statement about Strawberry Shortcake itself, they were not certain they could defend the use as "parody" in court and therefore opted to simply remove the comic rather than battle the incensed American Greetings. Had American McGee come after them, they would have had a stronger leg to stand on since they were using his name and work to make a statement about his work.
Pity, because that was a great comic, I thought.
peter Aug 17th 2008 8:10PM
"pirate comic".
Oh, give me a break. Does even the most tenuously derivative work today deserve the label "pirate"?!
Antiquity Aug 17th 2008 10:51PM
Yah its no different then things like MAD magazine, or other comics making fun of another...like Gonad the Barbarian and so on.